Google Research Director Peter Norvig Gives Talk at Stevens as Part of “Distinguished Lecture Series”

The rapid growth of “smart” technology– which now pervades mobile phones, cars, household appliances, fitness devices, navigation and many other aspects of daily life – has made artificial intelligence (AI) a white-hot topic in business and industry. Peter Norvig, director of research for Google, discussed the promise — as well as the pitfalls — of AI technology at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Norvig, the ninth speaker in the university’s President’s Distinguished Lecture Series, gave a stimulating lecture titled “Creating Software with Machine Learning: Challenges and Promise” April 24 that drew a record number of students, faculty, staff, alumni and invited guests to Stevens’ DeBaun Auditorium.

Introduced by Stevens President Nariman Farvardin as the “superguru of artificial intelligence” and clad in his trademark Hawaiian shirt, Norvig co-authored Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, the leading textbook in the field. Prior to becoming director of research at Google, he presided over the search giant’s core search algorithms group, and was also previously head of NASA Ames’ Computational Sciences Division as the agency’s senior computer scientist.